Eino Keskitalo

With mixes like these, I'm starting to realize.. I actually really like trance?! What?! --Eino

Another mix discovered thanks to the "missing lyrics" thread, hehe. I'm enjoying this a lot. I find those vocals *great*. Very well used effects on them. They're a bit too buried in the mix. I think overall the mixing is lacking - the sounds don't mesh and sound mostly "straight from the can", and especially the bass instruments sound "all over the place". It's not too bad, just quite unpolished. Many of the sound choices are pretty good in themselves, the harsh snare percussion for instance (a bit too harsh on the ears), and the 80s keyboard that first comes in at 00:08. I also like the figure that it plays. Other arranging is good as well, and supports the chosen genre/style well. I'm not sure if the structure/pacing is the best, it's a bit on the long side for instance. Also, this piece reminds me of Yellow Magic Orchestra, which is always a plus! Even with it's flaws It's a keeper. --Eino

Fantastic stuff. I love how there are so many gems to discover in OCR even after listening for so long.. --Eino

Thanks for your viewpoint A-RoN, it's making me think. Why only lyrically, why not musically too? You can pick your audience too, which in my humble opinion & modest experience is a healthy thing to do. I appreciate that OCR has broadened my musical horizons especially because of the arrangement and interpretation focus. The vgm material here are like jazz standards and everyone's encouraged do their own takes on them. --Eino

Looks like a neat and inventive game, and I like the look as well. --Eino

Nice work expanding three chords worth of material. =) I like it, very emotional, very yearning. The wind scene theme feels a bit tacked on, spoiling the mood. It's not a bad idea to fit it in there, but I think you could modify the melody to fit this particular piece better, while it still would evoke the wind scene theme. --Eino

Nah, you have to work on making your style work. --Eino

Great stuff man! This one hooked me from the first seconds and it's hard to shake the first impression off. I love the acoustic guitar and piano. 00:50-> is grand. There *is* an iffy spot at 02:40-02:43 where it goes a bit dissonant in a bad way. I think I can live with that. Overall, gorgeus. Good work! --Eino

I enjoyed NSMB very much, and this track was a pleasure when I first heard it. I've kept it and it still is fantastic, it's lush, it keeps the Super Mario feel to it and yet expands it into new territory. Great job! --Eino

This is some cheese I can't stomach regularly, so I won't be keeping this, but it definitely made me smile. The d-d-d-de-destroy bit is ridiculous, I can't get it out of my head. --Eino

Good job with this track. I enjoyed it! --Eino

Congrats! Loads of happy news this month.

Pretty funky! I enjoyed this. I agree with the critics in earlier posts. The writing in the piano parts isn't substantial enough yet. Good key change at the end. --Eino

Good vocal (esp. for a guide), I can feel the emotion dude! Doesn't go too syrupy I think. --Eino

This unts gets my approval. Liking, nah loving the chord synths too. I'll try to give this a closer listen later. --Eino

Loved this on the WIP boards already. The brooding, chilling vibe is fantastic. I really, really like the rhythmical feel with the drums going and the piano kind of creeping over them. I like the rapping, it sound good, but I've got to critique how suddendly it comes on. It sounds a bit tacked on. There could have been a lot more vocals. --Eino

Quirky synth-poprock instrumentation, I like it. I can hear you're a beginner, but that's alright. The a-part has a good drive, especially the second time around. There's variations, and there's structure. I like how you build each part each time they come around again. I *love* that fake electric guitar. It's fake, but it sounds great. It sounds like not all the notes are exactly on the beats. How did you enter the notes? I don't know anything about FL, but humour me anyway. You might want to quantize, although the wavering does add life into it. It should be on purpose of course. Or maybe I'm just hearing things. The intro is a bit long. When the beat and bass come in at 00:40, there should be a crash cymbal or something to emphasize it. Now it just ..starts. In the b-part, the upper notes on bass sound like a separate instrument, it's does not sound like realistic playing imo. I like your basslines otherwise. Drumming is overtly busy, simplifying a bit would make it more a solid groove. High-speeding is ok. --Eino

I get 404.

Like the famous saying goes: no source link, no source comment. Never take anything for granted. Yup, the start is definitely very nice. I like how the drums come in with that filter. I like the drum sound! Extremely nice beat and fills in the drum intro. Great eerie feeling with the melody and drums. That first melody + drums gets a bit too complicated to follow rhythmically around 01:22. A stuttering, bad fill at 01:22-01:25. You're doing some time signature tricks I presume, but you're not pulling it off. I like the idea, see if you can simplify it a little. Start the melody which starts at 01:24 on a regular first beat of the drum beat, start a new bar with the drums and melody both on the same "one" right there. That's my suggestion, anyway. I think the drums sound a bit fuller in v2, or am I imagining? --Eino

I love that monstrous, noisy bass sound. That said, it could switch to non-distorted, softer/fuller/bassier sound every now and then, to give room to the guitars. That would then make it even more monstrous when it kicks back in, and (perhaps counter-intuitively) increase the energy level of the track overall. The arrangement on the other instruments might have to respond accordingly. I like the bookend chip parts in Insert Coin. The lead work in the beginning of Battle Scars isn't cutting it for me. Not enough energy, groove-wise it's not in the pocket, it sounds cautious.. you know? Overall, Insert Coin feels a lot tighter and energetic. I think it gets better towards the end in BS but early impressions are important. I have to say I love that bit at 00:43! This is also a huge compliment: this isn't a genre I generally like, but I like Insert Coin anyway. So you are definitely doing something right. --Eino

Grrroooooovyyyyyyyyy. Evil, dark kind of groovy. Beat + bass (kickass line!) + fx are complimented by wonderfully spacey synths. I'm soooo sold. My definite favourite from the album. --Eino

Nice source. Interesting sounds, quite unique, a bit muffled. Horrible fadeout. --Eino

Actually, I really like the long intro, just listening to it. Great, relentless driving beat. I don't like the main synth sound. So I'd say this one didn't deliver for me. Outro sounds nice again. --Eino

Great but short. Or maybe.. short but great. Yeah, that's better. Listen closely; it sounds fantastic and there are some wonderful details in there - I absolutely love the percussion. (There is also a bit of offness in the final Lunarians part with lotsa delay effects, but that's forgivable). The soaring b-part of the Another Moon theme is *gorgeous* here. The fade is kinda unfortunate and unnecessary, the ending could have been done without it. I could just loop this without it, but now it's jarring. A proper diminuendo would have been great. I hate being so negative about what ultimately is a minor detail, but on such a delicate track it's really unfortunate. Otherwise, it's a really tasty piece of music! --Eino

The chip sounds in the intro don't mesh with the drums. Once it gets past that, it starts sounding cohesive + very good, and that's what you'd except from a mutagen mix. I'm impressed by the use of stereo. The floating synth is lagging a bit. Doesn't bother me, it works. Very laidback feel in this one. It stops suddenly and feels underdeveloped. Nevertheless, this is a quirky, relaxed, good-sounding mix, so it's worth checking out! --Eino edit: well, actually it doesn't stop that suddenly, but it does feel somewhat underdeveloped. There is a bunch of great details, but overall it could have gone more places.